Regression can strike quickly. After a miserable 2021 campaign, Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei was one of the best rebound stories of 2022. He threw for 371 yards and five touchdowns in the Tigers' 51-45 track-meet win over Wake Forest in Week 4, and heading into Saturday's home game against unbeaten Syracuse, he had completed 64% of his passes with a beautiful 17-to-2 TD-to-INT ratio and a Total QBR ranking of 30th -- not exactly Heisman-worthy but far better than last fall's No. 97 ranking.
Apparently that was too much improvement in too little time. Uiagalalei suffered a disastrous performance against the Orange, completing 13 of 21 passes for just 138 yards with two interceptions and a sack; he also lost a fumble that Ja'Had Carter returned 90 yards for a go-ahead touchdown in the second quarter.
Following Uiagalalei's third turnover, a midfield interception by Jason Simmons Jr. with Clemson trailing 21-10 with 6 minutes, 27 seconds left in the third quarter, coach Dabo Swinney decided something needed to be done. He benched Uiagalelei in favor of blue-chip freshman Cade Klubnik. While Klubnik didn't do much -- he was 2-for-4 for 19 yards and a sack and rushed five times for 26 yards -- he didn't turn the ball over. Riding backs Will Shipley and Phil Mafah, Clemson drove for back-to-back touchdowns to take the lead, then tacked on a late field goal. R.J. Mickens picked off a pass at the Clemson 15 with 15 seconds left, and the Tigers barely survived, winning 27-21.
Syracuse is a good team, and any path to beating the Orange and remaining unbeaten has to be considered a good one. Clemson will likely be a favorite of at least a touchdown in all of its remaining regular-season games (and a hypothetical ACC championship game), and the Allstate Playoff Predictor gives the Tigers the third-best overall odds of reaching the College Football Playoff (62%).
After the game, Swinney was quick to proclaim that Uiagalelei's job was not in danger -- "DJ's our starter. DJ's our leader. Ain't nothing changed there." But Uiagalelei's struggles were both a flashback and a harbinger of what might either derail the Tigers' playoff hopes or get them harshly eliminated from the CFP if they get there. If you think about the players who might have the most impact on both the CFP and national title races, Uiagalelei and/or Klubnik might top the list.
With November barreling toward us and the first CFP rankings just more than a week away, let's turn our gaze toward the title race. The Playoff Predictor basically shows us two tiers of CFP contenders. Ohio State, Georgia, Clemson, Alabama, Tennessee and Michigan all currently have a 49% shot or better and should be considered the primary contenders. Meanwhile, four teams are between 3.5% and 10% (USC, TCU, Oregon and Penn State), and five are between 1% and 3%. Before the season we looked at the 25 players who affect the CFP. As we head toward the final Saturday in October, here is a current list of the 25 players who will have an oversized influence, both on who makes the CFP and who wins it.
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The 25 most important players in the CFP race
Ace cornerbacks
Among the primary contenders are the two teams with by far the most prolific offenses in the country: Tennessee is first in scoring offense (50.1) and second in yards per play (7.5), while Ohio State is second in scoring (49.6) and first in yards per play (7.8). To take either or both of these teams down, opponents are probably going to need some otherworldly cornerback play. So here are three otherworldly corners who could wreck some title plans.
25. CB Devon Witherspoon, Illinois. Illinois will get a shot at Michigan on Nov. 19 and is the current favorite to win the Big Ten West and potentially meet Ohio State (or Michigan again) in the conference title game in Indianapolis. Witherspoon leads one of the most successful secondaries in the country; as the primary coverage man, he has allowed just 10-for-37 passing for 119 yards and a minuscule raw QBR of 6.6.
24. CB Malaki Starks, Georgia. We're just two weeks from what could be the most hyped Tennessee-Georgia game since 2005, and for as good as Georgia's defense has been in recent years, few have tested the secondary the way Tennessee will. Starks and Kelee Ringo (combined stats in primary coverage: 17-for-39 for 219 yards with two interceptions) have been dominant, but we'll find out their limits.
23. CB DJ Turner, Michigan. When Ohio State and Michigan meet Nov. 26, all eyes will be on Ohio State's defense to see if or how it has rebounded from last year's struggles. But Michigan will need to stop the Buckeyes, too, and the indomitable Turner and dance partner Gemon Green (combined in coverage: 15-for-55 passing, 226 yards, one touchdown, three team interceptions) will be the key to that.
Potential spoilers
22. QB Drake Maye, North Carolina. Results have broken perfectly for the Tar Heels, who have a 71% chance of winning the ACC Coastal, per SP+. They would almost certainly meet Clemson (98.8% favorite in the Atlantic) in the ACC championship game, and if passing is one of the keys to taking down the Tigers -- Wake Forest's Sam Hartman threw for 337 yards and six TDs in an overtime loss to Clemson -- Maye could be up to the task. He's fifth in Total QBR, ahead of Bama's Bryce Young and USC's Caleb Williams, among others, and he's second in the nation with 24 touchdown passes in just seven games.
21. QB Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss. The Playoff Predictor still gives Ole Miss a 1.6% shot at the CFP following Saturday's blowout loss to LSU, so not quite all hope is lost. But the Rebels could also serve as a spoiler against Alabama on Nov. 12 -- both Texas and (especially) Tennessee were able to stretch the field on the Crimson Tide, and few quarterbacks throw a higher percentage of deep shots than Dart. Aggression could backfire on Ole Miss, or it could create a huge upset opportunity.
20. QB Sean Clifford, Penn State. Like Ole Miss, Penn State is still in "So you're telling me there's a chance" mode, holding on to a 3.5% CFP shot after a blowout win over Minnesota. Clifford was outstanding against the Gophers, completing 23 of 31 passes for 295 yards, four touchdowns and one interception and providing a reminder of what he's capable of when he's at his best.
Penn State welcomes Ohio State to Happy Valley next week in what will likely be the Buckeyes' biggest test between now and the Michigan game. Clifford has been quite good in his past two games against Ohio State -- he's a combined 53-for-82 for 642 yards, four touchdowns and two picks -- though it obviously hasn't been enough to score an upset. (Yet!)
19. QB Jayden Daniels, LSU. In his past two games, wins over Florida and Ole Miss, Daniels has completed 44 of 60 passes for 597 yards and five touchdowns while rushing 37 times for 165 yards and six more scores. LSU scored 45 points in both contests and might be rounding into form just in time for a Week 10 matchup with Bama in Tuscaloosa.
18-17. RB Chris Rodriguez Jr. and QB Will Levis, Kentucky. Levis is a likely first-round draft pick who's completing 70% of his passes and has guided the Wildcats to a No. 20 ranking in passing downs success rate, making up for what was a pretty awful run game to start the season. Kentucky is 5-1 when he plays (he missed the loss to South Carolina with injury).
Rodriguez has solved a lot of those early run woes. He missed the first four games of the season, but in his past two he carried 53 times for 323 yards and two scores. With a healthy Levis and a rolling Rodriguez, the Wildcats are nearly a top-10-caliber team, and they could throw a major scare into either Tennessee (which they play next week in Knoxville) or Georgia (Nov. 19 in Lexington), if not both.
Key positions for primary contenders
The six primary contenders have the best odds for a reason, but only four teams can reach the playoff, and they all have weaknesses or limitations to account for in the weeks ahead. Let's talk about some of them.
16. DT Tyler Davis, Clemson. The Clemson pass defense was indeed torched by Sam Hartman and Wake, and while the Tigers have improved a bit since then, they still aren't as disruptive as expected up front -- they're 60th in success rate allowed (72nd rushing), 35th in stuff rate (run stops at or behind the line) and 51st in sacks per dropback. They're making up for that with stellar big-play prevention and red zone defense, but with their current limitations at quarterback, the Clemson D must raise its game. That could start with Davis, who came up big against Syracuse with two sacks among 2.5 tackles for loss. More of that would be helpful.
15. CB Christian Charles, Tennessee. With veteran corner Warren Burrell out for the season because of injury, others have had to step up in the Volunteers' secondary. Kamal Hadden (43% completion rate and 26.5 raw QBR allowed) has done well, but Tennessee ranks a ghastly 97th in passing success rate allowed, and Hadden will need lots more help from Charles, a sophomore, down the stretch.
In primary coverage, Charles had allowed 14-for-21 passing for 203 yards heading into Saturday's UT Martin game -- he gave up completions of 36 and 23 yards in the second half against Alabama, and opponents will likely test him severely in the weeks to come.
14. RG Emil Ekiyor Jr., Alabama. Heading into Saturday's win over Mississippi State, Alabama's offensive line ranked 117th in penalties per game and 118th in blown block rate, per Sports Info Solutions data.
While those numbers alone don't encompass the breadth of how to evaluate a line, they do hint at the extreme sloppiness Nick Saban's Tide have been dealing with up front. The center position has been responsible for a lot of those issues (Seth McLaughlin and Darrian Dalcourt have combined for a 2.9% blown block rate on rushes, well below average), but so has Ekiyor (2.7%), a third-year starter who is expected to be one of the top guards in the 2023 NFL draft. He needs a strong home stretch.
13-12. WR Ronnie Bell, Michigan, and WR Ladd McConkey, Georgia. Among the primary contenders, Georgia and Michigan profile as perhaps the most physical of the bunch. They both rank in the top four in overall success rate, pairing sometimes brutal run games with high-efficiency passing games featuring tight ends (Georgia's Brock Bowers and Darnell Washington, Michigan's Luke Schoonmaker) and heavy usage of slot receivers (McConkey and Bowers for Georgia, Bell and Roman Wilson for Michigan).
There's still value in lining a guy up wide and stretching an opponent's defense with some vertical shots, however, and that's not something either the Wolverines or Bulldogs thrive in doing. They rank 86th and 106th, respectively, in average air yards per pass attempt, and they rank 80th and 111th in passing marginal explosiveness, my measure for the magnitude of a team's successful plays. Big plays and easy points are like gold in matchups of elite teams, and Michigan and Georgia are less likely to create them than others. (Their defenses also prevent big plays with aplomb, of course.)
There's still potential, however. Bell has caught 16 passes in his past two games, and while he's gained just 160 yards (10.0 per catch) in that span, more than 25% of his routes are deep routes, per SIS, and he's caught passes of 49, 28 and 21 yards while lined up wide this season. Whether it's Bell, Roman Wilson or Cornelius Johnson, a bit more in the "vertical threats" department would go a long way.
That's almost doubly true for Georgia. The Dawgs almost lost to Missouri when the Tigers played aggressive coverage to dare Stetson Bennett to go deep, and Georgia couldn't make them pay enough. The UGA receiving corps has been banged up all season -- Adonai Mitchell, possibly its best deep threat, has played in only three games with five receptions -- and Bennett has found himself relying heavily on the aforementioned tight ends and quick passes to McConkey, who is averaging just 11.0 yards per catch in conference play. But 31% of his routes are deep routes, most of any wideout on the roster, and while he spends lots of time in the slot, he also caught a 37-yarder from Bennett while lined up wide against Samford. Be it McConkey, Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint or an eventually healthy Mitchell, someone will be asked to come up big deep, like Mitchell was in the fourth quarter of last year's national title game.
11-10. DT Michael Hall Jr. and LB Tommy Eichenberg, Ohio State. I wrote about it while ranking the unbeaten teams last week: Ohio State's biggest weakness is more unknown than known. After getting pushed around by physical offenses against Michigan and Oregon last season, the Buckeyes really haven't played any team that can combine both quality and physicality to that level. And they might not until the Michigan game. But the duo of Hall, a 290-pound sophomore, and Eichenberg, a 240-pound senior, has combined for 14.5 tackles for loss, 7 sacks and 11 run stuffs. They're doing everything they can to prove they're ready for Michigan. Now they just have to keep doing it.
Starting quarterbacks for secondary contenders
9-7. QB Bo Nix, Oregon; QB Max Duggan, TCU; and QB Caleb Williams, USC. The top three teams outside of the primary contenders are basically the same: Oregon, TCU and USC all rank in the top 10 in points scored per drive and in the top 15 in offensive SP+. They also all rank in the nation's bottom half in points allowed per drive and between 47th and 56th in defensive SP+.
I could spin that into a section about each team's most important defensive player, but let's be honest: Neither the Ducks, Horned Frogs nor Trojans are probably making a CFP push unless their respective quarterbacks make huge Heisman pushes. And any of them could! Nix currently ranks sixth in Total QBR, Williams eighth and Duggan 10th.
We knew Williams could make a run like this -- he was among the preseason betting favorites for the Heisman after a solid run as a freshman at Oklahoma last year. He's thrown for 1,971 yards, 19 touchdowns and only one interception in seven games, and he's got USC playing elite offense again despite a large number of new pieces.
The other two names here are surprises. In three seasons as Auburn's starter, Nix never topped 30th in Total QBR, showing a faith in his own playmaking abilities that his actual stats never consistently backed up. He would scramble himself into trouble and repeatedly alternate between thrilling performances and stinkers. But since the Ducks' season-opening dud against Georgia, he has completed 75% of his passes with a 17-to-1 TD-to-INT ratio. He absolutely torched UCLA in the Ducks' big 45-30 win Saturday, and if he maintains this level of play, Oregon could win out.
Duggan is an even bigger surprise. After three years as an on-and-off starter in Fort Worth, he lost the starting job to Chandler Morris ... who got hurt in the very first game this season. Duggan has completed 69% of his passes with a 19-to-1 TD-to-INT ratio and a sterling average of 14.1 yards per completion. TCU has the lowest ranking of six remaining FBS unbeatens, and the ridiculous depth of the Big 12 will probably trip up the Horned Frogs at some point. But they'll have a chance in every remaining game with Duggan leading the way.
Starting quarterbacks for primary contenders
Even with Uiagalelei's recent struggles, the quarterbacks of the six primary national title contenders are producing at a pretty ridiculous level. Combined, they're completing 72% of their passes at 12.8 yards per completion with more than six times as many touchdowns (97) as interceptions (15). Five of them are among the top 12 in Total QBR.
It's hard to separate them in any major way, but for our purposes I'm going to rank them in order of how proven they are -- the most proven rank the lowest because we already know most of what we need to know about them.
6. QB Bryce Young, Alabama. The defending Heisman winner has been dealing with a glitchy offensive line and working with a brand new receiving corps. So he can be forgiven if his numbers have trailed off this season.
I'm just kidding. He's completing 66% of his passes and averaging 8.6 yards per pass; he was at 67% and 8.9 during last year's Heisman campaign. He escapes pressure as well as anyone, and his rapport with leading receiver Ja'Corey Brooks (nine catches for 153 yards in the last two games) appears to be growing. If Bama fails to win the national title this year, it won't be because of Young.
5. QB C.J. Stroud, Ohio State. If we measure provenness through CFP appearances or wins, Stroud's name shouldn't come up before Stetson Bennett's. But if we measure it by who finished first in Total QBR last year and who ranks first this year, Stroud is the most proven quarterback in college football. He's completing 70% of his passes, and he leads the nation with 28 touchdown passes despite the fact that his star receiver, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, has barely played this season. Does he have a wealth of former star recruits surrounding him? Of course. But even by the standards of Ohio State quarterbacks, Stroud is thriving. And as with Young, if the Buckeyes don't win the national title, it will be rather difficult to point the blame at him.
4. QB Stetson Bennett, Georgia. It feels like Bennett hasn't had a fully healthy receiving corps at his disposal at any point in his parts of three seasons as UGA's starter. But while the lack of proper field-stretching has certainly caught up to him a bit recently -- he's averaging just 11.1 yards per completion in his last four games after averaging 14.6 in his first three this season -- he has responded with patience and accuracy. He suffered from some occasional heroball issues early in his career as a starter, but now he takes what the defense gives him as well as anyone. We'll see what happens if Hendon Hooker and Tennessee pull the Dawgs into a track meet in a couple of weeks, but Bennett has earned the benefit of the doubt.
3. QB Hendon Hooker, Tennessee. Only two power conference quarterbacks are averaging more than 9 yards per dropback in 2022, and they are both well over 9: Stroud at 10.2 and Hooker at 10.1. The current Heisman co-favorites' passing lines are remarkably similar -- Stroud has 2,023 passing yards to Hooker's 2,093; Stroud is completing 70% of his passes to Hooker's 70.6% -- but if Hooker eventually separates himself in the race (and a win over Georgia to pair with the win over Bama might do it), it will be with his legs. In the Vols' consecutive wins over Florida, LSU and Bama, Hooker rushed for 244 combined yards. His escapability scared the Tide out of blitzing, and with time in the pocket, he picked Bama apart (21-for-30 for 385 yards and five touchdowns).
Now he just has to keep doing it. Tennessee hasn't been this high in the polls (third) this late in a season since 2001, when it came within a game of the BCS championship. This is newly rediscovered territory for the Vols, and it's simply new territory for Hooker, who was 14-12 as a college starter before 2022. This is a hell of a story, and now he must continue to meet the moment, especially considering Tennessee's next four opponents rank sixth (Kentucky), third (Georgia), 27th (Missouri) and 32nd (South Carolina) in defensive SP+.
2. QB J.J. McCarthy, Michigan. Jim Harbaugh took a risk in replacing incumbent Cade McNamara with the former top-25 prospect, but McCarthy has thus far made the gamble pay off. He is completing 77% of his (mostly safe) passes with only two interceptions in 144 throws, and his mobility tops McNamara's. He has flashed plenty of the upside that won him the job.
Now, like Hooker, he has to keep doing it. Three of Michigan's five remaining regular-season opponents rank 22nd or better in defensive SP+, and the last two (Illinois and Ohio State) are in the top five. McCarthy's two picks have come in his last two games, and he made a couple of iffy decisions against Penn State that could have been costly if the Wolverines weren't racking up 400-plus rushing yards. Along with the upside, there have been reminders that McCarthy is a true sophomore. Michigan can't have too many of those and stay in the national title hunt.
1. [Insert QB here], Clemson. In the aftermath of the narrow win over Syracuse, Swinney was indeed adamant that Uiagalelei will remain Clemson's starting quarterback. And while Uiagalelei's performance against Syracuse was indeed dismal, the Orange have a higher defensive SP+ ranking (31st) than any of Clemson's remaining regular-season opponents, and his performance in the four games prior -- which included a game against an even better NC State defense -- saw him complete 63% of his passes with a 12-to-1 TD-to-INT ratio. He was great before he was terrible.
Uiagalelei remains by far the weakest link among these six quarterbacks, however. There's no getting around that. And considering that the Tigers' No. 14 ranking in defensive SP+ is only fifth best among these six teams, Clemson needs to figure out how to extract more upside from its offense. If Uiagalelei suffers another poor stretch against solid Notre Dame and/or South Carolina defenses in the coming weeks, Swinney will be forced to think about benching him again, even if we have no confirmation that Klubnik will perform at a higher level.
Who won the Heisman this week?
We're attempting an experiment this season: What happens if I award the Heisman Trophy every single week of the season and dole out weekly points, F1 style (in this case, 10 points for first place, nine for second, and so on)? How will this Heisman race play out, and how different will the result be from the actual Heisman voting?
Here's who won the Heisman this week:
1. Will Shipley, Clemson (27 carries for 172 yards and two touchdowns, plus 17 receiving yards vs. Syracuse)
2. Bo Nix, Oregon (22-for-28 for 283 yards and five touchdowns, plus 51 rushing yards vs. UCLA)
3. Jayden Daniels, LSU (21-for-28 for 248 yards and two touchdowns, plus 121 rushing yards and three touchdowns vs. Ole Miss)
4. Spencer Sanders, Oklahoma State (34-for-57 for 391 yards, two TDs and one INT, plus 43 rushing yards vs. Texas)
5. C.J. Stroud, Ohio State (20-for-30 for 286 yards, four TDs and one INT vs. Iowa)
6. Sean Clifford, Penn State (23-for-31 for 295 yards, four TDs and one INT vs. Minnesota)
7. John Torchio, Wisconsin (10 tackles, two interceptions, one pick-six and one pass breakup vs. Purdue)
8. Hendon Hooker, Tennessee (18-for-24 for 276 yards and three touchdowns, plus 28 rushing yards vs. UT Martin)
9. Dae Dae Hunter, Liberty (23 carries for 213 yards and one touchdown, plus 31 receiving yards vs. BYU)
10. Kendre Miller, TCU (29 carries for 153 yards and two touchdowns, plus 18 receiving yards vs. Kansas State)
The top three could have gone in any order, but I'm giving the top spot to Shipley for the sheer significance of his work. We saw plenty of "Cade Klubnik came off the bench to lead Clemson to a comeback win" headlines popping up following the Tigers' victory over Syracuse, and that's technically true, but in four drives Klubnik completed two passes for 19 yards. Shipley, meanwhile, rushed nine times for 81 yards and the go-ahead touchdown in that span. His best career performance came at the best possible time.
Quite a few players deserved honorable mention status. Among them:
• Will Howard, Kansas State (13-for-20 for 225 yards, two TDs and one INT, plus 31 rushing yards and one TD vs. TCU)
• Holton Ahlers, East Carolina (30-for-36 for 311 yards and one touchdown, plus a rushing touchdown vs. UCF)
• Shaun Peterson Jr., Florida International (six tackles, three sacks among 3.5 TFLs, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery vs. Charlotte)
• Marcus Fuqua, Buffalo (four tackles, three interceptions vs. Toledo)
• Luke McCaffrey, Rice (10 catches for 171 yards and two touchdowns, plus 31 rushing yards and one touchdown vs. Louisiana Tech)
• Nelson Mbanasor, Texas State (six tackles, 2.5 sacks among 4.5 TFLs, one forced fumble vs. Southern Miss)
• Deneric Prince, Tulsa (20 carries for 231 yards and one touchdown, plus 29 receiving yards and one touchdown vs. Temple)
Through eight weeks, here are the overall point totals:
1. C.J. Stroud, Ohio State (29 points)
2. Jalon Daniels, Kansas (24 points)
3T. Bo Nix, Oregon (21 points)
3T. Caleb Williams, USC (21 points)
5. Hendon Hooker, Tennessee (20 points)
6T. Dorian Thompson-Robinson, UCLA (17 points)
6T. Bryce Young, Alabama (17 points)
8. Spencer Sanders, Oklahoma State (16 points)
9. Stetson Bennett, Georgia (15 points)
10T. Adrian Martinez, Kansas State (14 points)
10T. Drake Maye, North Carolina (14 points)
At the moment, Stroud and Hooker are by far the betting favorites to win the Heisman, and they're both in the top five here. But plenty of other QBs are still within reach in the race. Williams has lived up to all hype since transferring to USC, and holy smokes, has Bo Nix been awesome this year.
My 10 favorite games of the weekend
1. No. 5 Clemson 27, No. 14 Syracuse 21. Obviously.
2. No. 11 Oklahoma State 41, No. 20 Texas 34. The latest in a long line of Big 12 thrillers.
3. UTSA 31, North Texas 27. Five lead changes in the fourth quarter!
4. Southern Miss 20, Texas State 14. Fourth-and-4, 45 seconds left, Southern Miss down by one: Zach Wilcke to Chandler Pittman for 53 yards.
𝗪𝟰 | 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆 😈 pic.twitter.com/wWh8ZkMK6t
— Southern Miss Football (@SouthernMissFB) October 23, 2022
5. Buffalo 34, Toledo 27. In a potential MAC championship game preview, Toledo led by 17 points with 14 minutes left. Things went just a wee bit awry from there.
6. Rice 42, Louisiana Tech 41 (OT). The Bulldogs hit on a 2-point conversion attempt with 37 seconds left to send the game to overtime ... but failed on one in the first OT possession.
7. Maryland 31, Northwestern 24. Northwestern overcame a double-digit deficit and tied the game with 3:34 left. This game looked like it was going to over-- ah, never mind, Roman Hemby wanted nothing to do with overtime.
ROMAN HEMBY ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? 😱
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 22, 2022
7️⃣5️⃣-yard TD to the HOUSE by @r_h3mby 🔥 @TerpsFootball back on top! pic.twitter.com/INBpc6NvSC
8. No. 8 TCU 38, No. 17 Kansas State 28. Really, this was two blowouts in one game -- KSU 28-10, then TCU 28-0. A nice, fun Saturday evening track meet.
9. UTEP 24, Florida Atlantic 21. A hard-hitting affair ends with a 27-yard Gavin Baechle field goal at the buzzer.
10T. FCS: Sacramento State 31, Montana 24; Montana State 43, Weber State 38. The two biggest FCS games of the day were both intense and memorable. One was lawful good, the other chaotic good. In the former, Sac State overcame a 10-point deficit in the final six minutes of regulation, then moved to 7-0 with an Asher O'Hara touchdown run and a fourth-down stop.
In the latter, all hell broke loose for three quarters -- Weber State scored twice on return touchdowns within a five-minute span in the first quarter -- and Montana State's winning margin was powered by four safeties. Four! All from bad snaps! Even the MSU Twitter account seemed appalled by it.
We're not kidding, Weber State just had another bad snap for a safety...#GoCatsGo | #BobcatBuilt pic.twitter.com/p8cBuhI28L
— Montana State Football (@MSUBobcats_FB) October 22, 2022
No matter how much college football you've watched in your lifetime, this sport is still capable of giving you something you've never seen before.